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So What’s The Ruckus About?

Ruckus delivers simply better connections. It's in our DNA. And that means the world’s leading enterprises and organizations can deliver awesome customer experiences to their end users.

We were founded June 2004, delivered our first product in September 2005 and hit one million shipments by January 2007. We quickly became known as a wireless technology innovator and grew across enterprise and carrier markets. We delivered the industry's first adaptive antenna technology to overcome RF interference on WiFi networks – followed by industry-first 802.11n and 802.11ac products, certificate-based security and location-based software. In other words, we invented some awesome technology. In February 2012, we went public, and in 2016 we became a part of Brocade.

Today, Ruckus offers a complete line of high-performance access network infrastructure, including WiFi controllers and access points, wired Ethernet switching and OpenG in-building cellular and small cell, combined with network security, analytics and management software, and professional services and support.

Our commitment to technology innovation is one of the bedrock values of the company. And today, we innovate across both wireless and wired technologies to meet the needs of enterprises and organizations of all shapes and sizes. With our OpenG technology, we are pioneering an ecosystem that will enable organizations to self-deploy LTE coverage in the same way they deploy WiFi today. Our deep history of technical innovation means superior, dependable connections for our customers. Everywhere, all the time.

Our partner ecosystem ensures our products are readily available, whether for a small, local project or one of the world's largest.

And our unwavering focus on our customers means everything from flexibility and options to ease-of-install and management to award-winning customer support. We pride ourselves on being easy to work with and delivering value.

That's really what the ruckus is all about. High-performance, secure, reliable access to applications and services no matter how tough the environment. When connectivity really matters, organizations turn to Ruckus.

Product Info

BeamFlex Adaptive Antenna Technology

Performance Optimization

What it means:

Smart, compact adaptive antenna systems containing multiple elements that electrically manipulate antenna properties so as to create optimal antenna patterns for each device with which they communicate.

Why you should care:

Traditional wireless antennas are either “omnidirectional” (radiating signals in all directions) or “directional” (radiating signals in one direction). Ruckus BeamFlex Adaptive Antenna Technology takes a more adaptable approach. BeamFlex technology enables the antenna system within a Ruckus AP to continually sense and optimize for its environment.

This antenna system mitigates radio interference, noise and network performance issues, and improves application flows. The results:

Increased performance and range

Crystal clear video and voice communications

Maximized power efficiency

BeamFlex+ is an enhancement to Ruckus BeamFlex adaptive antenna technology by providing adaptive support to mobile devices. BeamFlex+ enables antennas to adapt to client device orientation in addition to client device location.

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802.11ac vs. 802.11n

General Wireless Technologies

What it means:

802.11 is a family of wireless standards created by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 802.11n is the older version of Wi-Fi, launched in 2009. It improved over previous versions of Wi-Fi with multiple radios, advanced transmit and receive techniques, and the option to use 5 GHz spectrum—all of which translate to a data rate of up to 600 Mbps.

802.11ac, introduced in 2014, is the latest generation. It adds wider channels and the ability to utilize up to eight data streams (“spatial streams”) with downlink using multi-user multiple input, multiple output (MU-MIMO) techniques for simultaneous transmission on up to four devices. These are changes over the previous standard that yield a maximum data rate of more than 3 Gbps, and even higher in the future. It also operates exclusively in the cleaner, capacity-rich 5 GHz frequency band.

Why you should care:

Older 802.11n technology is now widely deployed, and still does a good job for many applications. But if you’re deploying wireless infrastructure today, especially in a new, “green field” deployment, 802.11ac is the way to go. You might have heard some grumbling about real-world 802.11ac throughput gains not living up to expectations. And that was sometimes true for early products. But the second generation of 802.11ac—known as “Wave 2”—delivers major advantages over 802.11n, with room to grow. To get the most from 802.11ac, however, you need solutions built with solid wireless fundamentals, thoughtful radio design and very good antennas.

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802.11ac Wave 2

What it means:

802.11ac Wave 2 is the newest version of the newest Wi-Fi standard. It builds on first-generation 802.11ac technology by delivering faster data rates and the ability to communicate with four different clients simultaneously, instead of one at a time.

Why you should care:

Since rolling out in 2015, 802.11ac Wave 2 has become the Wi-Fi technology of choice, seeing double-digit growth in its first two years after launch. With wireless speeds as fast or faster than wired networks, many businesses now use it as the primary way to connect to the LAN.

Ruckus got in early on the 802.11ac game, offering one of the leading Wave 2 access points and the industry’s first commercially available Wave 2 outdoor access point. Today, we offer one of the largest Wave 2 portfolios on the market. By combining Wave 2 capacity with our technology breakthroughs in Smart Wi-Fi intelligence and antenna design, we’re making the dream of super-fast 802.11ac a reality in thousands of locations worldwide.

Why you should care:

Public WiFi hotspots are a great way to improve guest and visitor satisfaction. They can keep people in the venue longer, generate direct and indirect revenues or just provide a better venue or campus experience. But most of the time, public hotspots offer no security protection whatsoever, not even encryption. More and more users understand the security risk inherent to unprotected hotspots and, so, are more hesitant to use them. If they do, it's likely to be only for a
limited set of activities –diminishing the value that motivated you to deploy public WiFi in the first place.

Secure onboarding using Cloudpath software enables guests to securely and effortlessly connect to public hotspots. Guests onboard once and roam to any hotspot that is set up under the same roaming consortium. As soon as guests associate with the WLAN, they're directed to a branded web portal, where they can choose secure or open access. With proprietary Automated Device Enablement (ADE), the device is secured in seconds. It all adds up to simply better connections and awesome user experiences.

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OpenG

What it means:

OpenG is a Ruckus technology innovation that improves mobile coverage and capacity inside buildings, where connecting with conventional macro networks is a challenge. It combines new coordinated shared spectrum (CSS) capabilities with small cell technologies to bring licensed mobile connectivity indoors. In the United States, OpenG solutions use 3.5GHz spectrum under the Citizens Broadcast Radio Service (CBRS) rules defined by the Federal Communications Commission. Ruckus is an active participant in a group of wireless industry leaders working to develop, market and promote solutions utilizing CBRS.

Why you should care:

Mobile service has traditionally been an either/or proposition: users connect to mobile macro networks outside, and rely on Wi-Fi indoors where mobile signals are poorer. If you’ve ever been on a mobile call and walked into an office building or parking structure, you know why that’s a big problem. In many buildings, especially new construction, mobile services that operate over licensed radio spectrum just can’t penetrate everywhere users want them. Especially deep inside buildings, you end up with mobile “dead zones”, dropped calls and frustrated subscribers.

With the emergence of LTE-WiFi convergence and CSS, that’s all changing. Solutions like Ruckus’ OpenG let service providers and enterprises deploy “neutral host” small cell solutions inside buildings to extend mobile connectivity to places it wouldn’t otherwise reach. The result: better indoor coverage, happier users and new business opportunities for managed wireless services.